Folklore Haunted House is celebrating its 16th season of frights, continuing to thrill guests inside its massive 40,000-square-foot industrial building just north of downtown Acworth. Originally opened in Dallas, Georgia, the attraction moved to its current home 11 years ago and has only grown in scale and popularity since.
In addition to its Halloween season offerings, Folklore keeps the scares alive throughout the year with special openings for: Christmas Nightmares, My Bloody Valentine, and themed discount nights such as Ladies’ Night and College Night. For the bravest visitors, Blackout Night offers a trek through the haunt with only a glowstick to light your way.
This season, Folklore features two main attractions – Winter’s Estate and Maze of Madness. The main house – Winter’s Estate -continues the evolving storyline of the Winter’s family from previous years.
The young cast of Winter’s Estate did an excellent job embodying the roles of older, crazed, and frenzied occupants of the house. From the very beginning, they warned us in chilling tones that she was coming for our souls, setting the mood for what was to come. Performances ranged from quietly menacing stares to guttural growls and full-on, in-your-face vocal assaults. Many actors also made clever use of the props in their rooms, banging and rattling objects to amplify the chaos and ensure their presence was impossible to ignore.
The cast of Maze of Madness greeted us with unsettling guttural sounds and a range of eerie ticks and twitches that immediately set an off-kilter tone. We encountered four or five performers spread throughout the maze, each fully committed to their disturbing roles. Unlike the vocal warnings in Winter’s Estate, these actors relied on odd vocalizations and sudden, jarring movements to deliver their scares. The lack of dialogue only heightened the tension, leaving us wary as their strange antics unfolded around us.
This year at Folklore, we were especially pleased with the attention to detail in the costuming, most notably inside Winter’s Estate. Every character felt like they belonged to the storyline – from the sinister Winter family members to the distressed household staff trapped in the chaos created by the Winter family. Menacing cooks and trembling maids added realism to the story of a family driven mad by demonic possession. Many of the Estate’s occupants featured dark, veiny makeup effects that visually reflected the evil overtaking the house, while Lady Winter herself stood out with special makeup details that make her a highlight to watch for when she finally appears. We did notice a couple of masks that were a touch less convincing when viewed at close range, but even so, the overall presentation worked well, with costumes and makeup complementing the set of the Estate.
Maze of Madness, while not centered on a single storyline, still delivered respectable looks for its performers. Character costuming and makeup seemed to match both the environment and the quirky behavior of the character. There were a limited number of actors here, so each character was an outfitted representative of their particular zone.
Beyond the haunts themselves, Folklore also carries this attention to detail into the midway, where elaborately costumed characters roam and interact with guests. From monstrous giants to characters from the houses, the midway costumes and makeup are detailed and show up well in all of your photos.
Folklore’s website is well-organized, providing clear calendars with operating dates and ticket prices. The website also provides all the necessary location details, including the address and map, making it easy to find the haunt. GPS will direct you to the gravel driveway, where an attendant will guide you to a parking space.
Visitors should note that Sundays and Thursdays offer cheaper tickets, $5 less than standard pricing. For those visiting on busy nights, RIP Admission tickets ($49.66) allow you to skip the lines for a faster entry.
Tickets are also available in group packages. The Fearsome Four ticket set allows a group of four to attend together at a reduced price ($114.86). All four guests must be present and move through the haunt as a single group.
On-site amenities include porta-potties, located at the far end of the building opposite the parking lot.
Folklore’s main attraction, Winter’s Estate, continues the storyline of the Winter family. The story is carried throughout the house, and the theming is consistent from room to room. Guests make their way through twisting hallways and dimly lit chambers, uncovering the unsettling secrets that the Winters have been hiding. The set design does a solid job of reinforcing the story. Most spaces truly resemble the rooms they are meant to portray, and the newer additions stand out with textured wall treatments and rich detail.
That said, we’d love to see some of the older sections of the haunt get the same attention. A few painted plywood walls break the illusion, and the frequent use of camouflage netting as ceiling treatment could be replaced with more authentic finishes to strengthen the sense of immersion. Still, the design provides plenty of distractions, and each room is loaded with a mix of jump scares, loud effects, and static figures that keep guests second-guessing every shadow and corner.
One of Folklore’s hidden strengths lies in its venue. Housed inside a former textile mill, the building itself adds character with its original wooden floors that groan and creak underfoot. The haunt adds to this natural ambience a layered soundtrack of music, screams, and environmental effects for an effective experience.
The second attraction, Maze of Madness, is centered around clowns and industrial lab settings. The Maze doesn’t aim for the same level of immersion as Winter’s Estate, but instead embraces an “old school” haunted house vibe. The focus here is largely on the actors, who thrive on sudden startles and in-your-face encounters. Folklore told us that this Maze also serves as a training ground for newer performers, giving them room to experiment with timing, intensity, and improv. Because the design is more open and flexible, the cast has plenty of space to interact with guests, making it a lively and unpredictable part of the night.
Folklore Haunted House has a level of commitment to “old school” scare tactics. While many haunts rely heavily on elaborate animatronics, Folklore tends to keep the focus on the actors. That’s not to say they don’t use effects, but their animatronics are more atmospheric than creature-driven, adding sudden movement or noise that enhances the environment without stealing the show. There are occasions where an animatronic is paired with an actor scare, delivering a one-two punch that catches guests off guard.
Classic tricks are used as well. Drop panels hidden behind portraits and paintings line several hallways, and even when you know they’re coming, they still manage to somehow catch you by surprise. Well-timed air blasts add another layer of unpredictability, proving that some of the oldest tricks in the book are still the most effective when executed with precision.
The use of video screens disguised as paintings or windows is a creative touch, and they definitely grab attention. At times, the brightness of the monitors makes them feel more like screens than illusions, but they still add a fun, unexpected element to the rooms and help break up the traditional set pieces.
Over in Maze of Madness, things kick off with a memorable entrance – or more accurately, a honk. Guests are greeted by the front end of a tricked-out ice cream truck, complete with blinding headlights, a blaring horn, and a video screen showing a deranged clown behind the wheel. It’s chaotic, creative, and sets the perfect tone for what’s to come.
The rest of the maze keeps energy high with a mix of electronic effects and actor-driven mayhem. You’ll encounter sparking lights, alarms, and one particularly clever mechanical scare that isn’t a monster but is still guaranteed to make you jump. It is the actors who are the point of focus here. They lunge, taunt, and feed off the freedom this attraction gives them to improvise and interact with guests.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 8.5
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 8.83
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 8.48
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 8.05
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 7.88
The Folklore folks know how to scare! They have designed their haunt(s) so their actors can scare visitors 2 or 3 times from 1 spot! And the actors are great! They know just when to pop out and reveal themselves for maximum scare factor! Along with the jump scares, Folklore uses camouflaged scares that you will never see coming! They have several lighting & sound scares as well! We found ourselves jumping a lot as we made our way through both haunts… and we’re jaded pros! Folklore is sure to give you a very scary & fun experience!
On the night of our visit, general admission tickets were $34.99. Our combined walkthrough time for Winter’s Estate and Maze of Madness was 16 minutes, resulting in a value of about 0.48 minutes per dollar (MPD). This is relatively low compared to many other haunts we visit.
However, visiting on a Sunday or Thursday night can improve your MPD. Tickets on these nights are $29.99, and lighter crowds allow guests to move through the haunt more slowly, extending the experience.
Outside the haunt, there are plenty of ways to enhance your visit. Guests can interact with queue actors and take photos with them, or enjoy a few photo-op sets designed for memorable snapshots. For an additional fee, visitors can try three different midway games or take part in the coffin ride experience, adding more fun to the evening.
The gift shop offers a variety of items, including t-shirts, water, soft drinks, and snacks, all at reasonable prices, making it a convenient stop before or after your haunt experience.
5389 N Main Street, Acworth, Georgia 30101
